Mandatory Gun Training Demands

If you come out against mandatory gun training you are pilloried, and verbally attacked by leftists and other malcontents, and plenty of people who believe they support gun rights.

Each state that has mandatory training imposed as a condition for CCW permits found the government's idea of what you need, and qualified trainers ideas don't match at all. People took the CCW classes, thinking they had to, when what many needed was Guns 101, since they had never handled firearms before. Teaching them about actual carry in public is an entirely different ballgame.

Under a mandatory training regime, if some little old lady (or you) shoots an attacker in legitimate self defense, and you didn't take the approved class, you've committed a crime and go to jail, for what is essentially a righteous act. That's just not right.

Government could play a positive role if it ran public service announcements, "in cooperation with this station and the Ad Council," and put up billboards, encouraging the public to go to the range, take classes, learn about gun safety, the whole nine yards. Don't hold your breath. Promoting the Constitution and Bill of Rights is no longer any part of the federal agenda (in meaningful ways).

I’ve had it with all these statist gun owners and especially firearms instructors who think training should be required. Exercising your rights doesn’t require training. Failure to get training doesn’t vacate your rights or subject you to penalties. Got it? No training required to be a parent to helpless infants, none needed to buy poisons and sharp things in Home Depot, no certificate of completion needed to enter bizarre religious ritualistic buildings. Understood? Smart people get trained for everything because they’re smart. Get smart. Do it on your own. With or without whatever training, you screw up, your responsible. OK? Training doesn’t get you off the hook, at all, but it may help you stay off the hook (and it does look good to a jury). Making the government force you to be trained the way government thinks you should be is horrific.

Do you think this is a fable, just paranoia? Look:

GUN-RIGHTS LICENSING TEST PLANNEDhttp://www.gunlaws.com/GunLawUpdate4-SHOTnHR45.htm People complain it's just scare tactics when rights activists holler about gun bans. Here's the bill that proves them right, HR 45 from Illinois congressman Bobby Rush, which goes beyond gun bans to ban gun owners. It is so far outside constitutional boundaries it defies belief -- the man deserves to be removed from office. Also, a brief SHOT Show report with pictures.

The Solution: You want everyone trained to arms, include it in school curricula. You should be firearm trained even if you don't own a gun. Maybe especially if you don't own a gun. Give it in school.

About the Author

Freelance writer Alan Korwin is a founder and past president of the Arizona Book Publishing Association. With his wife Cheryl he operates Bloomfield Press, the largest producer and distributor of gun-law books in the country. Here writing as "The Uninvited Ombudsman," Alan covers the day's stories as they ought to read. Read more.